If you want to explain why you like it, then I would love to read that. Also, feel free to mention stuff that isn’t strictly on the srpg category, I would mostly just like to know what music people like that has the general “feel” of srpgs. And also I just want stuff to listen to.
For me, it would be:
FFT: I Love everything about the art of this game, but the level of inmersion that the music creates is crazy. I particularly like the use of long notes on the double bass, and all the random battle songs are my jam.
Tactics ogre LUCT: same composers I believe, but the style is so different. Avilla henya is a banger, and I adore how some of the tracks work with the twists of the story. The moment where you do your first real choice, and “fight it out”, starts playing really makes the weight of the decision hit, and you start wondering if you made the right choice.
FE4: Thank god this game has an amazing ost, otherwise I wouldn’t have finished it. The first gen map themes are just amazing, and although the second gen I found to be a bit worse, it’s still solid. I think my favorite is the second chapter song, the way it starts with a small instrumentation and then opens up with the drums and synth strings is beautiful.
Oh my god the OST in this one is so damn good. Not a surprise many hacks like to pick tracks from it, especially since it’s a fellow GBA game and all, even if i prefer the PSP version ost. I especially love how every Character had their attack ost.
Valkyria Chronicles
While not as banging as the ones above, i think the music works quite well with the gameplay and story, being Anime WW2 and all.
Berwick Saga
Some of the Tracks here are so damn good. Out of the Kaga games, this one has probably my fav. soundtrack and fav. everything Kaga actually
Hyperdevotion Noire
Ok, this one is cheating, because it basically just uses mainline Neptunia OST…Well, i love Neptunia ost xD
Battle Moon Wars
Another cheating one. Kinda. It’s a SRW-Style Type-moon fangame, and thus includes lota Type moon remixes. Me likey.
It is a ranking of game music poll results held regularly on 5ch (2ch).
It has been a regular feature over the years.
The retro game songs that appear at the top of the rankings here are among the best songs with many fixed fans.
You will be able to hear most of the top songs on song7z.
Triangle strategy. Coming from a musical background these tracks have a level of depth and ambition you rarely find in a game. They develop and progress far past the traditional “Section A, Section B, Brief Section C to reset back to A” structure you typically find in music in these sorts of games.
EDIT (Warning, really long)
As an example, FFTA (A game I dearly love) has this beautiful track.
It has an elegant Section A, which features a nice buildup and symphonic release, and a section B which is subdued and lets things brew for a bit before doing a big chromatic reset to the beginning. It’s an excellent battle track and memorable for where it pops up in the story.
This track starts as nothing special (generic fantasy medieval military music), but you can pinpoint the exact moment (1:33) it turns into something wholly original. Starting at 1:13 it does the kind of buildup and beautiful orchestral section you’d expect from this sort of game. But at 1:33 it does something that I have only ever heard Triangle Strategy do: in the height of its tension it drops the chordal structure lower and into a new key to retain emotional energy but give the track room to breathe. At the peak of its emotion, it denies a musical climax and instead doubles down on its force. In simple terms, it’s like the track is saying Serenoa will never ever give up, no matter what. It pushes on to 1:50 where it finally eases up and it’s like we’ve come into a clearing. It’s beautiful and it’s right and it’s compassionate. The rest of the track is masterful, much like the secret of the forest in Chrono Trigger, it tells a full summary of the game’s story and themes in 2 minutes.
(Sorry if you read this, I get really passionate about music sometimes.)
I don’t think I even reached the middle point of the story, but a big part of why I loved playing Summon Night 5 and want to continue my save someday is the kickass soundtrack.
I just wanted to type in Stella Glow, YES it has so many tracks that absolutely slap. Usually I prefer the first songs of the witches more (especially Cherry Blossom) but over the course of my NG+ I came to appreciate them all a lot more.
I feel like I’m getting more emotionally attached to them because they managed to make quite a good story overall.
I actually haven’t fully played any other SRPG so far… I should change that.
Does Chrono Trigger count as an SRPG? I almost don’t care because of how good its ost is. Undersea Palace made me step away from my keyboard for a full minute to listen when I first heard it, and so many other pieces are great. Yasanori Mitsuda is a master of using music to create a specific mood for an area, which is necessary when your game revolves around jumping timelines to different periods of history and their associated moods/themes.
I have to use this opportunity to shill Phantom Brave, a somewhat overlooked SRPG by NIS. Its OST was composed by Tenpei Sato, the usual Disgaea composer, but I think this is his best work. Here are two songs I love from the game:
I don’t think I could explain exactly why I like them though, you just have to listen to them yourself. The music is mostly classical-inspired with a folk vibe that really fits with the game’s tropical setting. I think any violin fans should check the whole soundtrack out.
Sato also has some great tracks outside of Phantom Brave, though. I’m not going into why I like them either because some of these play at crucial moments in the games’ stories.
I should also second Stella Glow, which other posters already mentioned. Even if the gameplay isn’t very strategic, I think the presentation is superb and the whole OST is nothing short of amazing.